Ask the Author Live: Kelefa Sanneh on Rhonda Byrne

This week in the magazine, Kelefa Sanneh writes about Rhonda Byrne, author of “The Secret” and “The Power.” Today, Sanneh answered readers’ questions in a live chat. A transcript of their discussion follows.

KELEFA SANNEH: Hi, everyone—thanks for reading, and for coming by.

QUESTION FROM GUEST: You seem very even-handed about “The Secret” and Byrne’s other products. Are there any ways in which this kind of thinking is dangerous?

KELEFA SANNEH: I’m not sure that there’s any belief system that we could certify as non-“dangerous.” Or, I guess the answer would be: “dangerous” compared to what?

QUESTION FROM READER: Byrne’s message is transmitted in several mediums. Is she much of a writer, or was her power more from the original videos? And do you think she even writes her own stuff?

KELEFA SANNEH: Well, part of what was seductive about “The Secret” was Byrne’s humility: she portrayed herself as a seeker, not a teacher; a reader, not a writer. “The Secret” is essentially a book of quotes. “The Power” contains mainly her own words. (At least, I assume they’re her own.) That’s part of the reason why it’s less fun to read.

QUESTION FROM DAVID: Doesn’t the breakup of Byrne and Hicks (financial, personal, or otherwise) betray an essential weakness in her program’s claims?

KELEFA SANNEH: Not necessarily! And it’s funny: Hicks has, I think, acknowledged that Byrne has had all the success she envisaged for herself. (And, in the wake of “The Secret,” Hicks enjoyed plenty of success, too.) You could consider them both success stories, despite their split.

QUESTION FROM DAN MCCARTHY: As a Wiccan, I find it troubling the way you marginalize certain non-conventional belief systems; in your article, there seems to be a tone of condescension wrought throughout. Why do you see people who prescribe to these belief systems as inferior?

KELEFA SANNEH: Oh no! I agree with you that “non-conventional” belief systems are often marginalized in a troubling way, and I certainly tried not to do that in the article. When I quoted Oprah Winfrey calling Esther Hicks “weird,” for example, I wasn’t endorsing that opinion. But I do think that Byrne, like Winfrey, seems eager to reassure readers that she isn’t somehow “weird”—whatever that would mean.

QUESTION FROM DAVID K: I haven’t had a chance to read the article yet. My reaction to the original video was that it mixed some good ideas (the power of positive thinking, essentially) with some very bad ideas. It implies that one can control everything through your thoughts. So, to take an extreme example, did six million Jews create the Holocaust?

KELEFA SANNEH: This is a variant of the theodicy question: “If what you say is true, then why is there evil in the world?” All religions face this question, and their answers usually seem unsatisfying—or, worse, monstrous—to nonbelievers.

QUESTION FROM GARY: New Thought is a very enticing but subversive agency in the world of organized religion, yet Byrne seems to be selling how easily the two are reconciled, but I can’t believe for one second that Christians or Muslims would take her seriously, yet again, she sells millions of books—how do you explain her success amongst the religious factions?

KELEFA SANNEH: Well, there have been churches that endorse “The Secret,” and churches that campaign against it. There is a tension, at the very least, because if “The Secret” really works, then all other religious practices are useless. But you can also imagine a pastor telling encouraging worshippers to focus on the positive when they pray, for example. And it’s important to remember that lots of people have not just one coherent belief system, but overlapping belief systems that contradict each other; we’re usually pretty good at ignoring the contradictions.

QUESTION FROM SUSAN: Researching this topic must have been interesting. Did you learn anything that surprised you?

KELEFA SANNEH: I had a sense that “The Secret” had a long history—you might even say that in its original form, “The Secret” was (almost) nothing but history! But I loved digging into the life of Wallace D. Wattles, the author whose book “The Science of Getting Rich” (1910) first inspired Byrne. He was a Christian socialist, and he saw New Thought as entirely compatible with both his radical politics and his spiritual identity. (Funny that a book about “getting rich” was also a book about “the development of … co-operative industries”!)

QUESTION FROM TIMOTHYLN: Why do you think she has gone into media seclusion? And would you have wanted to speak with her for your piece, or was that not really the point?

KELEFA SANNEH: I suspect she knew that interviews would only inflame the various controversies that she would like to tamp down. (And she knew her fans would buy the book regardless.) But if she had been willing to let me follow her around the world for a week or two, I certainly would have considered it.

KELEFA SANNEH: But that’s part of what’s so smart about “The Secret”: she says this message isn’t new, it’s everywhere, it has been disseminated for hundreds of years, and therefore it must be true/important. The seeming banality is partly strategic, because some of what she’s saying—“As you think, those thoughts are sent out into the Universe, and they magnetically attract all like things that are on the same frequency”—isn’t banal at all.

QUESTION FROM MO: Well, not to speak for the guest, but I think they’re articulating the false promise that wishing can magically solve problems and everyone deserves to be “wealthy.”

KELEFA SANNEH: To be fair to Byrne, she often emphasizes that the process she describes isn’t a passive one: you don’t just sit back imagining riches, you hold a goal in your mind and go after it. Here, again, Byrne’s own life is instructive: her success is extraordinary, but not necessarily magical. (And, to ask a mischievous question: are you saying that not everyone deserves to be wealthy? Or, for that matter, happy?)

QUESTION FROM HELEN: I think that Byrne’s work would be much more interesting without all the salesmanship; or is that the central part of the whole thing?

KELEFA SANNEH: I guess it depends on your definition of “salesmanship.” Since this creed doesn’t revolve around holy people, or holy texts, or sacred stories, or a God with attributes, there’s not a whole lot left if you take away the salesmanship. I should say, though, that a skeptic might make similar claims about more mainstream religions: don’t other people’s religious texts often look, to cynics, like works of mere salesmanship?

QUESTION FROM GRAHAM: All these “thoughts” careering around in the universe… must be very crowded out there. Perhaps they are the dark matter that is, so far, undetectable! Is there any, any, evidence that thoughts go out into space or have frequencies?

KELEFA SANNEH: I’d say that even when she uses scientific language, Byrne is advancing claims that are essentially religious in nature, and therefore nonfalsifiable.

QUESTION FROM ALYSSA GEDO: I read “The Secret,” but how I can be sure that all can it really happen?

KELEFA SANNEH: Well, if you really want to do it right, the first thing you need to do is banish doubt from your mind!

Thanks again, everyone! It’s always nice (and slightly scary) to be reminded that people actually read the stuff I write.

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